Sunday, January 4, 2015

New Year's Eve at Pratt Institute

The engine room's Chief Engineer, Conrad Milster, has amassed a
collection of wonderful steam whistles. Note that "whistle" here is
kind of a misnomer: these are the annunciators found on tugboats and
factories designed to be audible for miles! Anyway, Milsner has hooked
his collection up to a manifold, and at the stroke of midnight he
activates the steam valves, loosing a chest-juddering cacophony of
steam that jets hundreds of feet into the air. It's really the most
fun I've had short of blowing things up.

Also hooked up to the steam pipe was this calliope. These instruments
provide the familiar carnival music associated with carousels. The
trademark creepy out-of-tune sound arises from the pitch changing as
the steam condenses in the organ pipes.